Prices for imported HRC have increased visibly in the Vietnamese market this week, being confirmed in a number of deals for Indian coils. Moreover, most suppliers have increased offers further late this week, as the overall allocation is limited after recent transitions to China and Vietnam as well as to some other destinations over the past two weeks.
A contract for 20,000 mt of SAE1006 HRC from one of the major Indian suppliers was reported at $470/mt CFR Vietnam on Thursday, July 24. Following this, there have been rumours of two other contracts at $470-475/mt CFR. Though there has been no confirmed information about the total tonnage, sources said that the deals were for around 10,000 mt each or slightly higher. As a result, compared with the price level late last week, the workable level for imported HRC in Vietnam has increased by $15/mt to $470-475/mt CFR.
After these transactions, Indian mills have announced new offers at $480/mt CFR or even slightly above in Vietnam, saying that they had sold big volumes to China previously and at the moment unsold volumes for September shipment are very limited, while it is early to offer October shipment coils.
Offers from Taiwan and South Korea are at $485-490/mt CFR in Vietnam with little interest from buyers so far, sources have said. There have been no firm offers from Japan as mills have very low allocation left now and new offers will be set at not below $500/mt CFR.
Sources have said that prices have increased too fast and customers will be more cautious, but those who still need to buy will have to accept $480/mt CFR and above in the near future.
The overall offered volume from the local producer Formosa Ha Ting in Vietnam for September delivery will also be reduced as the mill has sold 100,000 mt of HRC to China, as SteelOrbis reported earlier this week. This was the first sale by Formosa to China.